Apparatus for preparing continuous filaments



July l 1941. A R. KERN 2,247,504

APPARATUS FOR PREPARING CONTINUOUS FILAMENTS FiIe i'Sept. 18, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet I five/Mar:

ern/

R. KERN July 1, 1941.

APPARATUS FOR PREPARING CONTINUOUS FILAMENTS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 18, 1939 at II a mwzog Jae $31 KBJ f Patented July 1, 1941 ABPARATUS FOR PREI ARING CONTINUOUS FILAMENTS Rudolf Kern, Siegburg, Rheinland, Germany Application September 1 In GermanyS 8, 1939, Serial No. 295,526 eptember 17, 1938 4' Claims. (Cl.19-65) (Granted under'the provisions of sec. 14, act of March 2, 1927;,357 O. G. 5)

The present invention provides an apparatus for the preparation ofcontinuous filaments from entangled grouped filaments and the like. That is, the treatment of continuous filaments immediately after they are produced and stapled in an expedient, economical and filament-preserving manner, whereupon, they can be immediately subjected to drafting and spinning operations,

Numerous devices have heretofore been developed for treating filaments such as kneading and bending between: spiral or fluted rollers or other means but these former treatments are insufficient in that a distribution of the filaments into single filaments cannot be thereby obtained.

It has also proved impractical to treat the continuous filaments by progressively moving the same under rotary brushes or the like, as experience has proven that the outer layers of the filament become scratched and torn, whereupon, they wind themselves around the brush rollers, rendering the latter inoperativebefore the inner layers have been even slightly separatedl Another treatmenthasbeen proposed, namely, causing the filament to become separated by imparting a high oscillation thereto, whereby the filaments are scattered at the medial portion of the swinging filament and, at the same time, stretching the filament laterally at said center and working the same into a thin layer whereby a large degree of separation can be obtained but this is, nevertheless, insufficient to produce completely separated filaments since previously separated filaments in some manner remain entangled and this cannot be completely eliminated.

As a result of the various. experiments, it is the consensus of opinion that hackling, combing or carding treatments are the most effective methods for separating the entangledfilaments. These methods, however, are restricted to filaments. of limited: length such as cellulose wool, wool cotton and so forth, since only those filaments can be handled in hackling or combing machines, the length of which is less than that of the hackle, hackle sets or combing sets.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus whereby hackling, combing or carding processes can be. made applicable to filaments of unlimited length, whereby entangled continuous filaments can be separated into separate continuous filaments for immediate stapling, drawing and spinning thereof.

Other objects of the invention-will be in part obvious and in part pointed out in the following detailed description based ing drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a side view of a machine incorporating upon the accompanythe present invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged illustrative detail view.

Fig. 3 is a side view of a portion of the machine showing the passage of filaments therethrough, and

Fig. 4 is a further side view of a portion of the machine disclosing the vertical treatment of the filaments.

Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings wherein like and corresponding parts are designated by similar reference characters, numeral I designates a supporting frame upon which is rotatably mounted a series of pairs of superimposed r0llersII-2; IlI'-3, IV-4, V'-5, VI 5. Following this series of rollers is asecond series of pairs of superimposed rollers of asmaller diameter, that is, roll= ers VII1, VIE-8, IX9.

Positioned above said rollers and on the top'of said supporting frame is a rotatable reel ID, a guide H, a rotatably mounted disc I2, a vertically adjustable guide bracket I 3, a second rotatably mounted disc l4 and also afurther vertically adjusted guide bracket [5, together with a reversing roller l6 rotatably mounted upon an extension of the supporting frame.

A motor I], preferably electric, is mounted upon the lower portion of the frame I and by means of an endless belt and pulley rotates the worm gears l9 and 20, whereupon shaft I8 is rotated by a connection to gear Hand in this manner, the bevel gear 2| is also given a rotatable movement for driving the gearwheel 22. The, aforementioned roller IX is connected to gear wheel 22 for being rotated thereby and, at the same time, has an endless belt 23 passing therearound and which belt extends around a pulley positioned beyond the edge of said supporting frame I and directly above the receiving container 24. i l

A pulley 25 rotated by connection to said gear 20 has an endless belt 26 passing therearound, which belt further passes around said disc l4. Another endless belt 21 connects the discs l2 and I4.

Continuous filaments A; which are more or less entangled, are placed upon the reel Ill and pass therefrom through the guide and over the face of the rotating discs which have a series of rods 33 mounted upon the periphery thereof,wher'eby, the filaments are caused to separate due to the beating motion thereagainst of the rods 33, and then pass to the guide bracket l3, whereby, the separated filaments are maintained in a spreadapart relationship in substantially the same plane.

The filaments A are given a second beating motion by the rods upon the periphery of disc I4 and are again maintained in a separated position by the guide bracket if: from which they are passed to the rollers IL- etc., by continuing around the roller l6.

Rollers II-2, III-3, IV- l, V-5 and VI---&

are provided upon their periphery with flexible wires 30 which are positioned, closely adjacent one another or may be joined to each other and are preferably bent to extend in a direction which opposes the direction in which the filaments A are moving. The particular shape of these wires 30 is best seen in Fig. 2 of the drawings. Each pair of rollers IL-Z, III-3, and the like, is connected by pinions 31 in such a manner that one roller has the wires 33 thereof positioned a very small distance in front of the wires 30 of the adjacent roller. That is, if the distance between two consecutive wires 39 amounts to a mm., in each case, then about a+l mm. is sufficient in order to obtain by millimeters in continuous succession a filament separation in the longitudinal direction of the continuous filaments A. After extended trials using this novel form of carding of continuous filaments, it has been found that the same can be carried out with a surprising amount of filament separation and also without any hindrances occuring to the smooth operation of the machine, such as the winding of the filaments around the rollers and the like. Also, there is a very limited amount of filament injury, as the material is only subjected for a very short distance" to the wires 36 and are released before an expanding or tearing of the filament could arise. The filaments are thus divided along the entire length thereof into carefully positioned single filaments and the separation of the filaments can be further increased by passing the continuous filaments A through several pairs of rollers, each, if desired, of'different sizes with different sized-wires 3% being positioned differently than the wires 30 of the preceding pair of rollers.

Besides the longitudinal separation of the filaments, a vertical separation thereof occurs due to the particular shape of the wires 31!, as best noted in Fig. 2 of the drawings. That is, the outer portion of the wires 30 are bent backwards from their direction of rotation, whereupon, the filaments A are not immediately released after having been gripped by the wires 30 but, as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, the

wires whip the filaments upwardly and downwardly as they are leaving each pair of rollers and are thereby pulled apart in a vertical direction.

Fig. 3 of the drawings discloses a detail view of the manner by which the rollers 11-2, III-3, IV-'4, etc., are rotated, that is, one roller of each of the roller pairs has a pulley connected thereto and one pulley of which is connected by an endless belt to the motor IT or, as shown in Fig. l, the motor His connected as hereinbefore described to roller IX of the drawing rollers. The roller thus actuated draws the filament A from the ree1 Ill and as the filaments pass through each roller pair, at least one of the rollers is rotated by contact therewith. Each roller pair is geared together by means of cog wheels 3|. Further, a cable fixed at one end passes around the pulley connected to one of the rollers'of each roller pair and due to the weight 28 or spring 23 pulling downwardly thereon, the roller is braked thereby against the movement of the filaments A.

The filaments A are passed through the drawing rollers VII1, VIII-8 and IX-9, whereby they are maintained in their separated position after leaving therollers VL-ti. These rollers VII-l, VIII8 and IX-Q have a fiat contour whereby the vertically separated filaments are fiattened into substantially the same plane and are passed therefrom to the endless belt 23 and deposited in a container 24, spooled, or worked up immediately by a cutting or stretching process if desired.

It is to be noted that the filaments A are first given a lateral separation before passing to the roller l6 and then are longitudinally separated as well as further laterally separated by the rollers II--2, III-3, etc., which latter group of rollers also imparts a vertical separation. The filaments A are thereby separated vertically, laterally and longitudinally before passing to the drawing rollers and, consequently, to the container 24.

It is obvious from the foregoing that the present invention is capableof considerable modification and such changes thereof as come within the scope of the appended claims are deemed to be a part of the present invention.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is:

1. An apparatus for progressively separating continuous grouped filaments comprising a frame, means for feeding grouped filaments through the apparatus, means for laterally separating the filaments as they are being fed through the apparatus, means for carding the laterally separated filaments and means for stretching the laterally separated and carded filaments.

2. An apparatus for progressively separating continuous grouped filaments comprising a frame, a plurality of rotary driven beaters mounted upon said frame, a lateral guide arranged between each beater, a plurality of carding rollers mounted upon said frame below said beaters and means for drawing grouped filaments over said beaters through said lateral guides and between said carding rollers for separating the same.

3. An apparatus for progressively separating continuous grouped filaments comprising a frame, a feed roller mounted upon said frame having grouped filaments wound thereupon, a plurality of beaters mounted upon said frame, a plurality of lateral guides mounted upon said frame and arranged between said beaters, a plurality of carding rollers mounted upon said frame below said beaters, a reversing roller arranged between said beaters and carding rollers, a plurality of stretching rollers mounted upon. said frame at one side of said carding rollers, power driven. means for driving said beaters and stretching rollers and braking means connected to said carding rollers.

4. An apparatus for progressively separating continuous grouped filaments comprising a frame, a plurality of rollers, said rollers being arranged in superimposed pairs for receiving the filaments therebetween, a plurality of carding Wires extending from the outer surface of each roller, gears for jointly connecting each pair of rollers, braking means connected to each pair of rollers, a plurality of beating discs arranged upon said frame above said rollers, guide brackets mounted upon said frame and arranged between said heating discs, a plurality of stretching rollers mounted upon said frame, means for feeding the filament over said beating discs, through said guide brackets, between the carding wires of said rollers and between said stretching rollers and power driven means for rotating said heating discs and said stretching rollers.

RUDOLF KERN. 

